Decorticator



Oct. 13, 1953 w, E. WRIGHT 2,654,915

DECORTICATOR Filed June las,` 194e 17 sheets-sheet 1 s' 8 E, 2 "5 s m A 3 a 2 )n i a r n l I ,g s EN 5 N N f3 g N g LL N h l 2 QR' @s m 3a A l, ...o 2 3 n 2 Q o a g a g m rx f5 N ,WI -z i o A I N A D a s l N 35'. 3 l Ah i N IN1/NTM o s gz w. :.wRlGHT f\ la' BY,

s Q :l

N ATTORNEY W. E. WRIGHT DECORTICATOR Oct. 13, 1953 1'( Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 18, 1946 INVENTOIL w. E. WRIGHT ATToRNEY Oct. 13,V 1953 w. E. WRIGHT nEcoRTIcAToR Filed June 18, 194e 17 Sheets-Sheet 3 :N1/wrm w E. WRIGHT FIG. 3 By 5 ATTORNEY Oct. 13, 1953 Filed June 18, 1946 W E. WRIGHT DECORTICATOR 1'7 Sheets-Sheet l4 FIG. 4 376 2 l I H L! NE 22 377 5 1 1 4 'w ll I 5, E J 5 n W I f i yf 29"\ '3o I] 374 y! l 373 3 g] h 36e i i 369 y f I 37o 371 4e w i mi V11 i 38.? l I uw INVENTOR.

' W. E. WRIGHT ATTORNEY Oct. 13, 1953 w. E. WRIGHT DEcoRTIcAToR Filed June 18, 194e 17 sheets-sheet 5 W. E. WRIGHT Oct. 13, 1953 DECORTICATOR 17 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed June 18, 1946 BY A ATTNEY nave Oct. 13, 1953 w. E. WRIGHT 2,654,915

DECORTICATOR Filed June 18, 1946 17 Sheets-Sheet '7 INVENTOR. w. F. WRIGHT.

. BY FIG 7 KPQL ATTORNEY W. E. WRIGHT Oct. 13, 1953 DECORTICATOR 17 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed June 18, 1946 INVENTOR. W. E. WRIGHT FIG. 8

ATTORNEY OCJ. 13, 1953 W, E, WRIGHT 2,654,915

DECORTICATOR Filed June 18, 1946 1'? Sheets-Sheet 9 24v@ 23\,- INVENTOR,

W. E. WRIGHT me. 9 BY ATTORNEY W. E. WRIGHT Oct. 13, 1953 DECORTICATOR 17 Sheets-Sheet lO Filed June 18, 194eL INVENTOR.

w. E. WRIGHT llllllllll/'lll FIG. 10

AT TORNEY Oct. 13, 1953 w. EI WRIGHT 2,654,915

DECORTICATOR filed June 18, 1946 17 Sheets-Sheet ll H l 4 a@ INVENTOIL w E. WRIGHT FIG. 13 Y ATTORNEY Oct. 13, i953 W E, WRlGHT 2,654,915

DECORTICATOR Filed June 18, 1946 17 Sheets-Sheet l2 FIG. I8

W. E. WRIGHT oct. 13, 1953 DECORTICATOR Filed June 18, 1946 17 Sheets-Sheet 13 mmm Oct. 13, 1953 w. E. WRIGHT 2,654,915

DECORTICATOR Filed June 18, 1946 17 Sheets-Sheet 14 Q L| l m N vN INVENTOR. w E. WRIGHT ATTORNEY Oct. 13, 1953 w, E, wRlGHT 2,654,915

DECORTICATOR Filed June 18, 1946 A 17 Sheets-Sheet ll5 Oct. 13, 1953 w E, wRlGHT 2,654,915

DECORTI CATOR Filed June 18, 1946 17 Sheets-Sheet 16 FIG. 25

W. E. WRIGHT INVENToR.

ATTORNEY Oct. 13, 1953 w E, WRlGHT 2,654,915

DECORTICATOR Filed June 18, 1946 17 Sheets-Sheet 17 K s? f *1' 1J g 'ai S g VW w f\ g 0 N Q' Lx..

INVENTOR. W. E. WRIGHT ATTORNEY Patented4 Oct. 13, 1953 2,654,915 DEcoRTlCAToR William E. Wright,

signor 'to N. Y.

West Palm Bosch, Fla., a ses Island Mills, Ine., New Yoi-k,

Application June -1t, 194s, sei-'lei No. etats? (ol. lai-11) 58 Claims. 1

This invention relates `to improvements in the production of vegetable fiber and particularly to improved method and apparatus for preparing nber of high commercial quality from the rainle plant and to an improved ber product.

The use of ramie fiber apparently originated in the orient and hand cleaned liber known coinmerically as "China glass was imported into this country for many years up until the time such imports were out olf by military activities in China. This hand cleaned Chinese liber was not sufficiently free of bark and other parts of the plants and was not received in 'suflicient quantity to achieve wide use in the textile lndustry; It has been known to Oriental peoples, however; since antiquity as a source of liber for' domestic cloth.

The Japanese appreciated, "to sonic eittent at leest, the textile possibilities of the liber and ettempted to prefect a method and apparatus for cleaning the fiber o'ri a commercial basis. These efforts resulted in the production of sl'ilall and simple cleaning machine, the operation of which involved an amount of manual labor only slightly less than that involved in the hand cleaning method of the Chinese. `In using the Japanese machine, an operator holds a few ratnie stalks ln hi's hands and feeds them into the mae chine for about half their length, withdraws and reverses thein and feeds in and withdraws the remaining portions. This method also occasions an important lossof fiber in addition to the disadvantage of requiring an excessive arioilnt of hand labor in removing the leaves and other green matter, feeding the stalks and re'lnov'lilg adhering stall; material from the liber.

Following the Japanese attempts several efifoit's have been made 1n this country to produce apparatus that would successfullyclean raiille fiber. These efforts have been chiefly directed along two lines. In one type' of machine the stalks are mechanically gripped at approximately their mid length location `and are carried t-h'rougli narrow slots in which they are subjected to the scraping action of large cleated wheels; 'I'lie butt end portions alone are carried through the first slot and the partially cleaned 'butt end portions and the top end portions are carried through the second slot. This apparatus loses up to one half of the liber in the butt end portions, which contain the moet mature and commercially desirable fiber, and produces a liber mass that is tangled and ruffed andtiierefore dinlcuit to separate and card.

stalks to the action of crushing, breakin'gand scraping rollers as the stalks pass freely therethrough, and fails to clean the fiber sufliciently to ltle itcbhi'l'iellally usable and also tangles and knots the liber.

vThese devices are 'not only heavy and cumber-V soine and dilll'xlt to adjust and operate but have also been designed as general purpose decorti- `chilies particularly dbtd tO 'cleaning ramie liber.

"In a great many types of commercial vegetable liber, such as he'llp, lute, Sisal 'and linen, the nonnbi'olls plant material is rctted away from the ber and n be readily reri'vd by a comparatively simple squeezing and scraping process and a long time interval may elapse between the times of cutting the plants and cleaning liber. Ramie liber, however, lnlist be cleaned within a -few hours of cutting the plants as fiber destroying ferment, apparently of enzymic character, begins Asoon after the plants are cot and the organic gums and resins in the "plant also harden and bcnl comparatively insoluble. This reqiiires that the ramie decorticating apparatus be Sed at th ltln at which the plants are grown.

As rainie is a tropical plant growing best in dain'p or Swampy soil, the decorticating apparatus must be used in locations where very little skilled labor is available and where it is subject to edverse climatic conditions. To meet these conditions the apparatus must be reasonably easy to transport and assemble, must be as completely automatic in operation as possible, must have little tendency to get out of adjustment and must not be unduly subject to breakage during operation,

Thema-in deficiency o f the various types of decoiticatlng apparatus already proposed as applied cleaning ralnle fiber is that they do not operate in a manner specifically applicable to the peculiar structure of the rainie plant Aand the special conditions under which the fiber cleaning opration nSt be carld out.

As pointed out above, it is necessary to clean the liber Within a few hours after the plants are out and while they are still in a green condition.

The yramie plant comprises a substantially cylindrical stalk without branches having e length from two eno a naif to six and e half feetarld a Butt end diameter of from one-fourth to three-Quarters of an inch or slightly larger.

The second type of apparatus" subjects the 58 The leaves grow directly from the upper porthoroughly tion of the stalk and there is an immature top portion that has to be removed and discarded along with the leaves. The leaves and tops are valuable as stock feed provided they are not mixed With nber or the woody portions of the plants.

The stalk itself comprises a tubular shell of woody cellulosic material filled with a soft pith and covered by an inner bark and an outer bark. The iiber is contained in the inner bark, some of which lies in longitudinal grooves or creases in the outer surface of the tubular shell. The outer bark is a relatively thin membrane which can be easily scraped from the green stalks.

The liber is present in lengths of from around three-quarters inch up to about nine inches in ength and apparently grows upwardly from the shell toward the outer bark. It has been found that a scraping operation in a direction away from the butt end of the stalk removes nonbrous plant material while maintaining the iibers in a smooth and parallel condition. Any scraping action in the opposite direction tends to push the bers back on themselves in a flung manner, and tear a number of the fibers from the ber ribbon. This results in a ribbon of snarled and tangled fibers and a considerable loss of fiber and particularly of the commercially desirable ber located along the butt end` unless the butt end portionsof the stalksarey securely held during the cleaning operation it is not possibleY to produce straight clean fiber ribbons and thatthere is' a considerable loss of ber and severing of therfiber in the ribbons.

As the usable dried ber amounts to only about four percent of the green weight of the stalks, any material loss of ber is extremely important from a commercial viewpoint.

After the liber has been cleaned and dried it is put through a degumming process which dissolves the organic gums and resins in which the ber is embedded in the i-lber ribbons. are then separated and carded according to usual textile methods and may be subsequently bleached, dyed, spun and wo-ven as may be desired.

In order that the fiberseparating and carding apparatus may operate successfully on the longstaple fiber which the ramie plant produces -it is desirable Vthat the iibers should be substantially parallel in relatively straight ribbons at the conclusion oi the decorticating process and it is also highly desirable that these ribbons should contain substantially all of the usable ber in the stalks.

lt is therefore among the objects of the present invention to provide improved decorticating apparatus especially adapted for cleaning ramie fiber which will produce relatively straight, cleaned ribbons of substantially parallel bers without material loss of commerycially usable fiber. y

A further object resides in the provision of an improved method of cleaning ramie ber wherein the cleaning operations are performed in a direction away from the Ybutt ends of the ramie stalks to produce relatively straight, thor- Voughly cleaned ribbons of substantially parallel The fibers 4 ing substantially all of the usable ber in the ramie stalks.

A more specific object resides in the provision of improved decorticating apparatus particularly adapted to cleaning ramie fiber wherein the ramie stalks `are gripped at their butt end portions and held thereby as they are carried through various stages of the ber cleaning mechanism.

A further object resides in the provision of improved decorticating apparatus especially .adapted to cleaning ramie fiber which cleans the major portions of the stalks and short A`lengths of the stalks at the butt end portions in .separate .cleaning operations in order to clean the ber from the entire stalk with a minimum loss of usable ber.

Another object resides in the provision of improved ramie decorticating apparatus which receives the entire plant including leaves and tops and delivers the ber, the leaves and the remaining -plant'material at diierent respective locations without the necessity of hand labor whereby the leaves and ber are separated from eachl other and from the rest of the plant material, and the green material may then be salvaged as a byproduct to the fiber.

Still another object resides in the provision of improved decorticating apparatus which may be provided in decorticating units several of which may be combined to provide a machine of any desired capacity Within wide limits.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of decorticating apparatus illustrative of the invention;

Fig. 2, a top plan view of the device illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, a front elevational view of the device illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4, a rear elevational view of the device illustratedin Fig. l;

Fig. 5, a diagrammatic sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6, a diagrammatic transverse sectional View on an enlarged scale taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 7, a diagrammatic transverse sectional viewtaken on the line 1-1 of Fig. 1; Y

Fig. 8, a diagrammatic transverse sectional view on an Venlarged scale taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 9, a diagrammatic transverse sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 1; A

Fig. 10, a diagrammatic transverse sectional view on anenlarged Ascale taken on the line I|l-|0ofFig.1;

Fig. 11, a diagrammatic view of a fragmentary portion of the front end of the machine showing the manner in which ramie stalks are fed into the machine Iand clamped for passage through the machine; .A

` Fig. 12, a `diagrammatic view of a fragmentary portion of the machine showing the manner in which theV stalkclamping means passes through one ofthe cleaning units of the machine;

Fig. 13, Aa diagrammatic transverse sectional View on an enlarged scale taken on the line I3-I 3 of'Fig. 1; n Y

Fig'. 14, an elevational View partly in section ofa, clamp -bracket supporting chain guides in adjusted position;

Fig. 15, an elevational view of fragmentary portions of carrier chains and guides therefor showing a supporting guide clamp in operative position;

Fig. 16, an elevational view of an outer bracket used to support chain guide clamps and Vcrosshead slideways;

Fig. 17, a plan view on an enlarged scale of a fragmentary portion `of a guide chain and a cross member, a portion being broken away and shown in section to illustrate the manner of attaching the cross members to the chain;

Fig. 18, a transverse sectional view of a pair of chain carried cross members in stalk clamping position;

Fig. 19 a longitudinal sectional view on an enlarged scale of a hydraulic check device;

Fig. 20, an elevational view of the upper end portion of the piston of the hydraulic check device shown in Fig. 19;

Fig. 2l, a diagrammatic elevational view of a rear fragmentary portion of the machine showing reclamping means for cleaning the butt end portions of vegetable stalks fed to the machine;

Fig. 22, a top plan view of the reclamping mechanism shown in Fig. 21;

Fig. 23, a transverse sectional View on the line 23-23 of Fig. 22;

Fig. 24, an elevational view on an enlarged scale of stalk end cleaning mechanism at the rear end of the machine;

Fig. 25, a perspective view of the complete decorticating apparatus with covers in place thereon; Y Fig. 26, a diagrammatic View of a modified ar rangement using hydraulic apparatus to move parts of the cleaning devices for passage of the chain cross members and hydraulic apparatus for operating the end cleaning reclamping mechanism.

Frame With continued reference to the drawings and particularly to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 5 the machine or apparatus has an elongated, substantially rectangular frame, generally indicated by the numeral 20. This frame comprises a pair of upper longitudinal members 2| and 22, and a pair of similar bottom longitudinal members 23 and 24 shown in section in Fig. 6, the two members 2| and 23 at one side of the frame being shown in elevation in Fig. 1, and the two top members 2| and 22 being shown in plan view in Fig. 2. These are preferably tubular members of square or generally rectangular cross section in order to provide the maximum rigidity with minimum weight and at the same time provide convenient surfaces for the attachment of the various machine Darts thereto. The upper and lower lon gitudinal frame members are connected by six vertical posts or columns 25, 26, 21, 28, 29 and 3l), the posts 29 and 30 being illustrated in Fig. 4. The corner posts or columns 25, 26, 28 and 33 extend continuously between the corresponding upper and lower longitudinal frame members and may be formed of suitable structural iron stock, such as I-beams or channel irons or may, if desired, be tubular members similar to the longitudinal frame members.

Two longitudinal members 3| and 32 extend lengthwise of the frame one at each side thereof, parallel to the corresponding bottom longitudinal members 23 and 24 and at about one-third of the height of the frame above the bottom members. The member 3| is secured at .its ends to 6. the corner columns 25 and 23 and the member 32 is secured at its ends to the corner columns 2l and 30. These intermediate longitudinal members pass through the intermediate posts or columns 21 and 28, as is clearly illustrated in Fig. 6, so that each ofthese intermediate columns comprises an upper part bearing at its upper end against the under side of the corresponding upper longitudinal members 2| and 22 and at its lower end bearing on the upper surfaces of the corresponding intermediate longitudinal member 3| or 32, and lower portions extending between the intermediate longitudinal members 3| and 32 and the corresponding bottom longitudina1 members 23 and 24.

Above the intermediate longitudinal members 3| and 32 there is a pair of secondary intermediate longitudinal members 33 and 34 located at approximately two-thirds of the height of the frame above the corresponding bottom longitudinal members 23 and 24. The member 34 is secured at one end to the corner column 25 and at its opposite end to the intermediate column 21 and the member 33 is secured at one end to the corner column 2B and at its opposite end to the intermediate column 28. These secondary intermediate longitudinal members are preferably formed from tubular stock of generally square or rectangular cross section.

The frame, as thus far described, comprises two side members, each comprising a bottom and top longitudinal member, a front and rear column or post, an intermediate column or post, an intermediate longitudinal member extending between the end posts and a secondary intermediate longitudinal member extending between the front post and the intermediate post. These two sides are rigidly secured together by a plurality of transverse members including an upper transverse frame member 35 and a corresponding lower transverse member 33 at the front end of the frame connected between the columns 25 and 26, an upper transverse member 31 and a lower transverse member 38 at the rear end of the frame connected to the rear posts or columns 29 and 30. Additional transverse members are interconnected between the two sides of the frame as will appear as the description proceeds. The frame members are all welded together to provide a strong and rigid structure upon which the various operative parts of the mechanism are supported.

Chain carriers As shown in Fig. 3, four transverse shafts 39, 40, 4| and 42 are mounted upon the front end of the frame and as shown in Fig. 4, four similar shafts 43 and 45 and in Figs. 21 and 24 shafts 44 and 45 are mounted upon the rear end of the frame. Shaft 39 is mounted in ball bearings 41 and 48 secured to the front faces of the front columns 25 and 26. Shaft 40 is mounted in similar bearings 49 and 50, shaft 4| in bearings 5| and 52, and shaft 42 in bearings 53 and 54.V

Shaft 43 at the rear end of the machine is mounted in ball bearings 55 and 56 secured to the rear faces of the rear columns 29 and 30 and the shafts 44, 45, and 4B are all `iournalled in corresponding ball bearings secured to the rear faces of the rear frame posts. Each shaft has fixed thereon two chain sprockets, as indicated at 51 and 58, for the shaft 39, the sprockets on all of the shafts beingof the same size and construction. 'Ihis gives a total of sixteen chain sprockets carried by the eight shafts. All of the 

